Miniblogging: Tumblr

Thursday, September 22, 2005

There hasn't been a festival at Spike Island since, well, The Stone Roses did their thing there. But Halton Borough Council are nothing if not go-ahead, and so they're proposing a Spike Island 06 festival to fill the gap left by Glastonbury bailing on us next year.

Adam Franklin, director of organisers Surprisingly Good Events, said: "We felt there was a gap in the market with there being no Glastonbury this year and Spike Island is a great location to have a festival for its natural defences and obviously, for its history."

We know that Reading and Leeds turned into something of a battleground this year, but choosing a festival site because of its "natural defences" - are they expecting Viking raids?

Adam said: "Nothing is finalised yet but the acts we're hoping to attract are as big as it gets. We're talking to acts that have had number one singles and albums."

Which sounds impressive - although you have to balance that against this pledge:

Organisers promise tickets would cost under £20 and concession stands would have to conform with strict price brackets to ensure the festival remained an affordable family day out.

That's a wonderful promise, but they might find it difficult to programme three days worth of "number one acts" on the budget they'd give themselves. ThisisCheshire have done the maths, and come to a conclusion: